From picking up a book to writing 10 figures in loans, William Xin's career has come full circle
In 2014, William Xin, a first-generation migrant of Chinese parents, entered a North Sydney Library and picked up a book written by Ironfish founder Joseph Chou.
Titled ‘From Bicycles to Bentleys’, it tells the tale of Chou’s experiences immigrating from China to Australia, delivering pizzas around Sydney for a mere $7 an hour before building his way up to becoming the CEO of a renowned property investment firm.
Xin drew a lot of inspiration from the stories in Chou’s book. Like Xin, Chou was a Chinese immigrant with a deep entrepreneurial desire to make a name for himself.
Chou was also a mentor to many people, including a taxi driver who Chou convinced to take up mortgage broking with great success.
It was pure happenstance that Xin picked up the book during one of his routine visits to the library – yet the stories in those pages sparked the beginning of his own entrepreneurial journey.
At the time, Xin was working in IT, but the prospect of earning trail commission and generative passive income as a broker appealed to him. Unlike the limited potential of the IT sector, Xin was enticed by the possibility of uncapped growth that being a broker provided.
Just like that, Xin began dipping his toes into mortgage finance.
Building from scratch
Xin’s IT expertise was a useful weapon in his arsenal as he set out on his broking journey.
Unimpressed by the existing CRM systems available to brokers, “I thought, why don’t I just create a system from scratch fit for our needs?” Xin tells MPA.
"From day one, I understood that this is an industry really driven by a consistent delivery of customer service. It's a relationship-based game.”
One of the biggest pain points Xin heard from customers is the lack of ongoing care from other brokers and bankers. “Once the loan is settled, there is no more catch up, no more follow up, no more ongoing services. Which is wrong.”
These pain points encouraged Xin to develop a system where customers don’t fall through the cracks. What he has built is certainly impressive.
Taking MPA under the hood, Xin highlights the unique origination, referral and client-management systems that he designed from scratch. In Xin’s view, this has been one of the biggest drivers of Xin Mortgages’ success.
It certainly wasn’t created in one day – it has evolved over the past decade and will continue to adapt to evolving customer demands.
Xin is clearly proud of what he’s built – so much so that it can be difficult to get him to stop talking about the technical minutiae of how the platform works. But when you’ve grown from a sole broker to a national brokerage writing a billion dollars in annual volume in just 10 years, bragging rights are well earned.
Coming full circle
Halfway through the Xin Mortgage journey, when the brokerage had grown to around 15 people, Xin had a full-circle moment in his career.
He attended a workshop by Chou (pictured below, right), where he managed to personally meet the entrepreneur whose writings inspired him to become a broker in the first place.
“I wanted to meet Joseph because his book brought me into the industry,” says Xin.
Today, Xin and Chou are good friends, so much so that Xin acts as Chou’s personal mortgage broker.
From inspiring Xin to chase his goals all those years ago to now turning to Xin as a trusted mortgage finance partner, it goes to show the ripple effects that motivating others can have on your own life.
Motivation at different stages
In the initial phases of his career, Xin's motivation centered on foundational learning.
Working 24/7 as a sole broker, he focused on acquiring technical knowledge, understanding industry processes and compensating for the lack of formal mentorship.
By years two and three, client acquisition became the primary driver as he sought to expand his business and grow his personal relationships.
Maintaining round-the-clock availability – responding to messages, attending open homes, and discussing solutions at any hour – characterised this growth phase.
From year three onwards, Xin's focus fundamentally shifted toward team building and addressing broker pain points rather than solely client concerns.
He recognised brokers faced distinct challenges: insufficient leads, administrative burdens, marketing support needs, and referral building difficulties. This motivated him to establish internal marketing teams, offshore support and client servicing departments.
Most recently, diversification has become his driver. Xin Mortgage has introduced financial planning services, implemented a branch partner model and developed white-label products.
This year, XIN Mortgage secured sixth place in MPA’s 2025 Top Brokerages report.
All in all, a classic Australian success story.
